Titan Machinery surfed the agribusiness acquisition wave to realise long-held ambitions for expansion into Europe, buying a Romanian farm equipment dealer, and heralding further investment.

The US-based trader in CNH Global brands such as Case, New Holland and Kobelco bought AgroExpert, whose two dealerships marked Titan's first abroad and took its total portfolio to 91.

The takeover, for an undisclosed sum, fulfilled long-held ambitions for foreign expansion, in which Titan sees further potential.

"We have been exploring expansion into Europe for a period of time, and we believe we have found a significant opportunity to begin building the Titan Machinery brand abroad," David Meyer, the group's chairman and chief executive, said.

"Going forward, international expansion will complement our growth efforts in our core markets of the upper Midwest."

Deal spree 

The deal also marked the latest stage of an acquisition spree which on Wednesday saw two takeovers in the Australian sugar sector, and Dutch feed group Nutreco sell a large chunk of its European business and reveal an appetite for deals in emerging markets.

On Thursday, Converted Organics, the Massachusetts-based green agriculture group, said it would "try to grow through acquisitions", while last week UK feed-to-engineering group Carr's Milling Industries unveiled an appetite for deals.

In the farm machinery sector, Agco, the maker of Massey Ferguson tractors, last month unveiled the $940m purchase of silos-to-irrigators group GSI Holdings.

Titan itself has already sealed a series of takeovers this year in its domestic market, with seven in the bag before the entrance into Romania.

Strategic market? 

Romania is one of the larger agricultural producers within the European Union, with a grains harvest of 19.6m tonnes this year, according to industry group Coceral, second only to Poland in eastern Europe, if behind western countries such as France, Germany, and the UK.

The leading tractor makers themselves already have large presences in Europe, with CNH Global relying on Western Europe for 23% of sales last year. Europe and the Soviet Union accounted for 29% of takings in the latest quarter.

Romania borders with the Ukraine, part of the former Soviet Union bloc in which tractor makers such as Deere & Co have been taking a particular interest, opening factories in an attempt to exploit the region's agricultural expansion evident in soaring grain exports.

Titan already runs a Russian-language website.

Titan Machinery shares closed down 6.3% at $20.92 in New York.